you're watching cbs 5 eyewitness news in high definition. she's like, wow. i mean, she could smell it from that far off. >> first, a bad smell. then a body. and now police say it was all a plot to make some money. good evening. i'm elizabeth cook. >> i'm allen martin. it all started when vallejo police were called to the backyard of a warren avenue home. there they found the body of a man who had been dead quite a while. christin ayers tells us police say they uncovered a plot to cash in on that. >> reporter: deputies telling us the suspects in this case not only hid the death of a man but they robbed him blind for years afterwards. people in this vallejo neighborhood first noticed it coming from the backyard of this home on warren avenue. >> my sister had walked over there and got about to where

the red car is. and she's like, wow, i mean, she could smell it from that far off. >> reporter: a smell to gruesome it could only have been one thing. the badly decompromised body of a person. romar, a drifter, had been dead for two years. authorities say his son, 22- year-old joseph romer, never told a soul. instead, he allegedly hid the body in a large box and stashed it here in a backyard. >> i can't believe somebody would even think about doing that. >> reporter: even worse, authorities say joseph romar and his girlfriend began collecting the dead man's money. thousands of dollars in pension checks, over two years. relatives at the home did not want to speak when we knocked on their door. authorities say they didn't know that richard romar had died and only realized that

there was a body in their yard when it began to smell. now romar and his girlfriend are behind bars, facing theft and elder abuse. the two have not been charged in romar's death because they still don't know how he died. he was severely ill before his death and they are investigating. >> there was a report he suffer from aids. any word on that tonight. >> reporter: they could only say he was severely ill. it's really tough to tell how he died. >> all right. thank you. a young woman aspiring to become a police officer now finds herself in the gears of the criminal justice system. police say she was drunk behind the wheel last week when she ran down a group of people sightseeing at twin peaks. >> reporter: instead of upholding the law, gina eunice, seen here in an orange

jumpsuit, found herself on the wrong side of the law. >> she was studying criminal justice, hoping to become a police officer. >> reporter: her attorney says eunice was about to graduate from college. the district attorney charged the 23-year-old woman with driving under the influence, hit-and-run and vehicular manslaugher. those are just some of the six charges she's facing after police say she drove her car into a group of people last week at the twin peaks vista point in san francisco. the accident killed a 56-year- old woman visiting from china and injured two others. police say the impact knocked the three pedestrians about 30 feet down a hillside. while the victim's family did not appear in court, the suspect's relatives came to the hearing. they declined to talk on camera. but the suspect's attorney did speak, saying gina eunice is praying for the victims, the yao family. >> the entire eunice family is destroyed by what happened, and

i think it's fair to say that their main concern is for the yao family. >> reporter: district attorney george gascon says he will prosecute this case agressively. he says this is another example why people should not drink and drive. >> we are very concerned about the use of alcohol and driving and especially during the holiday season when there's so many people attending parties. >> reporter: eunice did not enter a plea on wednesday. a judge set the bail amount at $2 million, citing public safety for the high amount. if she's able to make that bail, the judge says she will not be able to drink or drive. eunice is scheduled to return to court on monday. in san francisco, cbs 5. other bay area headlines. a body was found floating in the lagoon at a santa rosa condo complex. an elderly woman was found with

her luggage. a night broke out and police say a 42-year-old woman at a party used a box cutter to injury three family members. it all happened at an apartment. the woman has been arrested. and in oakland, a man cleaning out his basement found more than five pounds of dynamite. he called police and the alameda county bomb squad showed up to remove the tnt. about a dozen neighbors were evacuated. the explosives had been there for more than 30 years. they date back to world war ii. the debate over gun control has moved to one over privacy over protection. the new york journal news got data by filing freedom of information request. the maps don't show whether the residents actually own guns, just that they're legally able to. george gascon says it's an

unfortunate circumstance. >> the people that are actually registering the guns and following all the rules, they're law-abiding citizens and they should be protected. >> the new york journal news is standing behind the project. gun buy-back programs here in the bay area are proving to be a big hit. in los angeles, city officials moved up the date of the city's annual buy-back program following the newtown shooting. handguns are good for $100 grocery gift cards. even those turning guns in don't think it will change much. >> they think might is right. that's just how it's always been. something i don't think you can unlearn in a short time. >> l.a. police say they have taken back more than 8,000 weapons over the last three years. critics say most of the weapons turned in are either old or broken and wouldn't be used in a crime anyway. president obama will spend

the night aboard air force 1, making a red eye trip to washington. with the fiscal cliff deadline less than a week away. what it all means for your paycheck. >> reporter: as the president wrapped up his vacation, federal workers trickled back into the nation's capitol. but the only people who can avert the fiscal cliff, members of the house and senate, have not returned. in just six days, a 2% payroll tax is set to expire, along with the bush-era tax cuts, shrinking the average person's paycheck in 2013 by about $1500. long-term unemployment benefits for about two million jobless americans are also set to expire. and 110 billion worth of spending cuts to both domestic and defense programs will start to kick in, forcing layoffs in the public sector and for some private sector government contractors. economists predict that if

congress doesn't act, all those cuts and new taxes will push the economy back into a mild recession by mid 2013. the impact of some of these new cuts and taxes wouldn't be felt immediately on january 1. that's because the irs and other agencies didn't expect it to come to this. so it could be a few weeks before workers see more money being withheld in their paychecks. cbs news in hawaii. former president george h.w. bush is in intensive care at a hospital in houston. a fever that kept mr. bush in the hospital over christmas has apparently gotten worse. doctors have him on a liquid- only diet. a bush family spokesperson says the 88-year-old was alert, joking with doctors, but had yet to respond to fever- reducing medication. a bronchitis cough initially sent him to the hospital in

november. a cash payout coming to millions of toyota drivers. right away, i thought, a card from an angel. >> lost and found. a thrift store discovery that managed to connect friends that were lost and found a new friend along the way. costs go up to survive. we have to do it. >> and your next batch of shirts could cost a little more. the international trade dispute that has your dry cleaner wired for a surprise hike. hi-def doppler is showing rain-free conditions throughout the bay area. mostly clear, chilly conditions. beautiful shot from our new oakland cam. i'll have your forecast with another rain chance. coming up next. ,,,,,,

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a class action lawsuit over unintended accel toyota says it will pay more than $1 billion to settle a class action lawsuit over unintended acceleration in its vehicles. the proposed settlement would be one of the largest of its type in automotive history. if approved by a federal judge, toyota would make cash payments for vehicles devalued by multiple recalls and install

special safety features on more than three million cars. >> for consumers, the two major defects in toyota vehicles are going to get fixed. the bad news is, how many more defects are there? how many more recalls are there going to be? after all, toyota, in the last three years, has recalled over 10 million vehicles. >> now, this settlement does not resolve claims by people who want money for injury or death linked to the acceleration problem. well, for the cost of a postage stamp, a group of bay area women received a priceless gift. juliette goodrich explains how it all started with a discovery in a thrift store. >> these five cards must have somehow gotten mixed in >> reporter: she found five cards, but no stamps. >> the handwriting was somewhat scribbly. i want sure if it might be an elderly person. >> reporter: so she put stamps

on them with a little note attached, explaining who she was and where she found the letters. so as it turns out, this card that pam put a stamp on made its way to a home in alameda. only this card was supposed to have been sent five years ago, to mary ann kate. >> and i hope it up and i saw sue bunkers name, and right away, i thought, a card from an angel! >> reporter: you see, sue bunker passed away years ago from pancreatic cancer. and these were her closest friends, all three receiving her cards five years later. >> may 2007 be full of good health, great travels and an occasional ice cream social. >> it is nice to know we're still in touch. >> reporter: without the other knowing, they each sent a thank you note to pam for taking the time to mail the cards.

they also shared glowing thoughts about their dear friend. >> i was so touched by the whole thoughtful gesture that she had done, that i had to just sit down and send her a message. dear pam, your thoughtfulness in choosing to mail those envelopes touches my soul. >> reporter: everyone so touched by the journey of the holiday cards decided to meet one another and toast to their dear friend sue and to their new friend pam. >> everyone just thought it was an amazing christmas story. >> reporter: and all of them certain sue was toasting along with them and smiling. well, you may remember, faye dunaway, screaming, no more wire hangers! cbs 5 reporter don tells us a fight over wire hangers has come to your neighborhood dry cleaners, and you could end up paying for it. >> reporter: who would have

thought the simple act of dropping off your dry-cleaning would involve international politics. >> most all the hangers are made in vietnam or china. >> reporter: the u.s. commerce department says vietnam and china have flooded the market, forcing nearly all u.s. manufacturers out of business. so the feds slapped a 187% tariff on the imported hangers, more than doubling the cost to dry cleaners. >> we were paying probably 4 to 5 cents a hanger, now we're paying upwards of 10 cents a hanger. >> reporter: janice says customers noticed the price increase. >> customers never like it. but as costs go up for supplies, we have to do it. >> reporter: janice says hangers are hardly worth harping about. the real costs are from utilities, chemicals and wages. well, when you run through

nearly 10,000 hangers a month, every cent counts, and recycling is highly encouraged. she says if you have hangers hanging around the house, hand them back in. that's fewer foreign hangers that have to be purchased. in albany, don ford, cbs 5. welcome to the wettest month of the year. that was held by march for much of the year, but we eclipsed that yesterday. here's a peek outdoors. no rain tonight. but we'll talk about when that rain will return, coming up next. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

midwest shows no signs of backing down. the storm system spawned tornadoes in some states and white- a powerful winter storm that hit much of the midwest shows no sign of packing down. the storm system spawned tornadoes in some states. in all, six people have died following weather-related incidents. governors in texas and mississippi have declared a state of emergency. more than 100,000 flights have been cancelled across the country too. >> i had a bad feeling. i said, i don't see any planes

taking off or landing, so we weren't surprised. >> some airlines are issuing flexible policies for travelers holding tickets for today and tomorrow. the rain may be gone for at least a day or today in our area, but saturated hillsides can still pose a danger. you don't have to look far to see the signs all over the bay area of plenty of landsides, like this one along morrison canyon road, which remains closed due to the land slide danger. as paul deanno tells us, we're seeing more rain. >> tis the season. we have these storms coming in every couple of days or so. with this particular storm moving in next, it's not going to be as intense or wet as the last several. tonight it's all about clear skies and chilly temperatures. we're already in the low 40's for livermore. upper 40's for san jose, san francisco and oakland. we'll all get down close to 40

coming up tonight. hi-def doppler very active last night. active this morning when elizabeth had the forecast for you. right now we're getting a break. nothing on the radar. temperatures tonight, it's going to be chilly, likely the heater will turn over a couple times tonight. fremont, 38. tomorrow morning in napa, 36. san francisco and oakland, low to mid 40's. here's the setup in the atmosphere. we still have a light to moderate on shore flow. high pressure building in tonight. building in tomorrow. keeping us dry, but not for long, just for tomorrow and the first half of friday, before the next low pressure area moves in. but this one doesn't have as much moisture in it as the past couple. even though we're still going to get a pretty direct hit from it, we're only going to see light to moderate rainfall. so flooding concerns, i don't see it. but landslide concerns can be an issue, when you get the

accumulating rainfall over time, which we have had. rain-free tomorrow and for the first half of friday. then we get on-and-off rainfall friday night into saturday. then the rest of your week looking pretty dry. a great weekend to go hit the slopes. lots of snow. what a difference from last year to this year. tomorrow the difference will be we'll be dry for most of the day. palo alto, 54. san mateo, 53. low to mid 50's for pleasanton, pittsburg and pleasant hill. say that three times quickly. sonoma, 53. sausalito, 53. rain moves back in friday afternoon. saturday morning looks soggy. then the weekend is looking pretty good after that. saturday afternoon, sunday, dry. new year's eve dry. new year's day dry. so we're staying dry more often than we're staying wet, and that's a change since thanksgiving. >> good trend. >> yes. dry, not wet. we could use a little dry. all right.

whatcha got! >> oh, oh, oh, boy. we've got pro bowl selections. a vernon davis update. and the warriors just fighting for these road wins! [ laughter ] [ girl ] wow, you guys have it easy.

i wish i had u-verse when i was your age. in my day, we didn't have these fancy wireless receivers. blah blah blah. if i had a sleepover, i couldn't just move the tv into the playroom. no. we had to watch movies in the den because that's where the tv outlet was. and if dad was snoring on the couch, we muscled through it. is she for real? your generation has it made. [ male announcer ] the wireless receiver only from at&t u-verse. get u-verse tv for $29 a month for six months. rethink possible.

heres the rub... ..they won1 on the road all right. nba, if the warriors pull this one off tonight, it would be their 11th road win. here's the rub. they won 11 on the road all of last season! salt lake city. stephen curry was feeling it tonight. got a nice little freebie here against the jazz. turned it into a point. scored the warriors first 11 point. finished with 23. jarrett jack, nine three- pointers. jack scored 15. they had a season low ten turnovers too. getting a little chippy here. david lee added 18. not like utah was some cupcake. warriors win. ties the league high.

they're 19-and-10. the pro bowl. the raiders, left out for the first time since 2003. the 49ers had nine players selected to the pro bowl, including six from defense. sack master aldon smith makes his first appearance, along with justin smith, patrick willis, navorro bowman, dashon goldson. on offense, frank gore, who became the franchise's all-time leading rusher this year, makes his fourth career pro bowl. he'll be joined by mike iupati who was selected for the first time and joe staley. 49er tight end vernon davis one of eight pro bowl alternates, did not practice today. still recovering from the concussion. he has to be cleared by an independent neurologist to face the cardinals. the niners receiving core is depleted. time now for the wednesday

night top five. no. 5, back to the warriors. stephen curry, look at the ball handling. and the lay-up -- uh-huh -- impressive! no. 4, knicks j. r. smith for the win! he beats phoenix. no. 3, oh, it's d-wade. a shot in the man zone! no. 2, it's alabama-notre dame, watch this crimson tide fan! >> we goin' to the game, huh? we goin' to the game! ha ha ha! >> i'm not making this up. true tide fan. we're goin' to the game! >> he gave him a hat. >> a hat.

and they checked the size. looked in there and there's the tickets. going to the january 7 game. >> that's a good one. >> great one for pop. >> you can see him just tearing up. >> overcome. >> aw. >> it's religion down there in the sec. all i can say is roll tide! and yeah, d-wade, can't he just hit an elbow or something? he goes for the man zone! oh! >> mean! mean. your christmas tree dropping pine needles d ,,,,,,,,,,

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your christmas tree dropping pine needles and taking up space? s are you getting tired of your christmas tree dropping pine needles and taking up space? not the fear. the annual tree recycling program starts next week. they show us what they do with those trees. last year, more than 500 tons of christmas trees were

collected in san francisco. >> the day after christmas. just the returning gift. now you gotta get rid of the tree. we're moving on. see you tomorrow! ( band playing "late show" theme ) >> from new york, the greatest city in the world, it's the "late show" with d letterman. tonight... plus paul shaffer and the cbs orchestra. and now belt buckle designer, david letterman! captioning sponsored by worldwide pants and cbs ( band playing "late show" theme ) ( cheers and applaus